Category: Backstage Youth Club News

Kallum came to TAPE as part of the initial taster sessions which led to the establishing of the Backstage Youth Club. He has been involved in so much since then and it seemed like a nice idea to ask him to share a few of his thoughts about his time at TAPE for our blog. It is a heartfelt piece and we are very grateful to Kallum for all his hard work and his kind words. As Kalllum heads off to uni in September, we are delighted to say that he has accepted our invitation to be a co-opted trustee of TAPE and hope that, following his studies, he will move to become a full and active board member.

Kallum’s journey is mirrored by the stories of a great many people who’ve come to TAPE and is a really nice example of how a person’s experience here can develop and grow beyond their initial reason for coming along and how impactful such experiences can be.

Dear TAPE Community Music and Film

On reaching my 18th birthday I wanted to write this letter as a thank you for all my time here so far. I have been coming to TAPE since I was 12 after my teaching assistant gave me a leaflet for a taster session here at time with Afasic Cymru.

From that a youth group was started which became the Backstage Youth Club. Every Thursday I would come here and explore my creativity in a safe friendly environment. One of are early projects was a music video that I will still hide to this day for being so embarrassing. TAPE was away to escape from school and home for about 2 hours each week. With out it I might not be the man I am today. Through Backstage and TAPE I learned communication and life skills that have seen me to where I am today.

I must thank TAPE for taking a huge chance with me when I asked for work experience at TAPE, something that TAPE didn’t do. But Steve let me and on that week I learned a little about how TAPE works. Since then I returned to do a week of volunteer work after doing my GSCE exams and know volunteer on Fridays after finishing my A Levels. Helping prepare for the Coastline Film Festival and testing the new VR system and exploring what can and could be done with it.

Speaking of The Coastline Film Festival in its first year I offered my time to volunteer for the whole weekend. I ended up spending most my time at the Chapel Of Horror which was a blast. The Chapel was an amazing venue and I have offered my time again to the same venue this year hopefully we will have just as many laughs and frights as last year.

TAPE also gave me the opportunity to help others by volunteering at Animation Club on Saturday mornings. It wasn’t always easy but I enjoyed my time there helping young people create small and brilliant animations, it also opened my eyes to working with young people and how fantastic and rewarding it is to see them excel.

As I move on to university I want to say a huge thanks to TAPE without them I don’t really know if I would be in this place now. As I move on I hope that I can continue my relationship with TAPE and that I will come back from university with more to offer to Tape.

TAPE has helped me create a dream for my future of being a filmmaker though helping me to excel I have taken a new aspiration for all things TAPE does and what I can see myself doing in the future. TAPE has given me the confidence to be myself. As I plan to create my own projects I thank TAPE for there support over the years. A heartfelt thank you cannot simply say what I want so I hope to continue giving back to TAPE with my time and effort.

Every Thursday evening, Afasic Cymru and TAPE team up to run the Backstage Youth Club, and this Thursday was no different…except we were taken over by Star Wars characters!

Last night, as a ‘special edition’ Backstage Club, we ran a Star Wars themed evening, with cosplay, light sabre battles and even Star Wars: Battlefront on the PS4, projected onto the cinema screen for the ultimate big-screen gaming session. Great fun had by all!